Thursday, February 6, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Sakura Blossoms Haiku by Neal Whitman

English Original

sakura blossoms
loose in an envelope
priority mail

USA Winner, Haiku Invitational, 2019

Neal Whitman 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

盛開的櫻花
寬鬆地裝在信封裡
優先郵件

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

盛开的樱花
宽松地装在信封里
优先邮件


Bio Sketch

Neal Whitman lives with his wife, Elaine, in Pacific Grove, California, where he is a docent at Point Pinos Lighthouse. Visitors who come there from near and far inspire him to write poetry that takes the “particular" to convey the “universal". Neal is Vice President of the United Haiku and Tanka Society.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Bodies and Light Haiku by Raymond Roseliep

English Original

our bodies
    listen
    to light

Listen to Light, 1980

Raymond Roseliep


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我們的身體
      傾聽
      晨光

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

我们的身体
     倾听
     晨光


Bio Sketch

Raymond Roseliep (August 11, 1917 – December 6, 1983) was a Catholic priest and a haiku poet. He has been described as "the John Donne of Western haiku." He won the Haiku Society of America Harold G. Henderson award in 1977 and 1982. Two of his better known collections of haiku are The Still Point – Haiku of Mu, 1979 and Listen to Light, 1980 

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Nursing Home Haiku by Natalia Kuznetsova

English Original

primroses
at the nursing home
another spring

Asahi Haikuist Network, June 07, 2024

Natalia Kuznetsova


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

安養院
的報春花
又一個春天

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

安养院
的报春花
又一个春天


Bio Sketch

Living in Moscow, Russia, Natalia Kuznetsova is a teacher of English and freelance interpreter. Before discovering the haiku world, she wrote poetry in Russian. She started writing tanka and mostly haiku in English in 2007, and participated in numerous competitions worldwide and won some awards. She contributes regularly to World Haiku ReviewAsahi Haikuist NetworkDaily HaikuPoetry Pea and other traditional and on-line publications. She was included on the list of "European Top 100 Most Creative Haiku Authors" from 2010 to 2023.

Monday, February 3, 2025

To the Lighthouse: Atmospheric Tanka

The atmosphere in literature is the way a writer uses setting, objects, or internal thoughts of characters to create emotion, mood, or experiences for the reader. And atmospheric tanka, a subgenre of tanka with its focus on atmosphere, intends to communicate first of all a feeling rather than an idea.

For example, 

a dark
stand of cypress
where crows roost
watching me pass
night after night

Bright Stars, 3, 2014

Simon Hanson

This tanka deals with the eerie feeling associated with watchful night crows; This eerie feeling is effectively conveyed through well-chosen images/phrases: a "dark/stand" of cypress/ ... "crows" .../"watching" me pass/ "night after night."

In contrast with my tanka below:

a mob of crows
cawing in the wintry sky ...
a phalanx
of policemen
in riot gear

This tanka is about the intense, before-the-storm scene of rioting (as implied from a rectangular mass military formation, L3, of watchful riot police, Ls 4&5). The symbolically rich cawing crows in the wintry sky function like a foreshadowing of a bloody confrontation.

And

the rust-colored
twenty-foot-high border wall
draped with razor wire
stretches to the horizon ...
raven after raven croaking

This tanka tackles with the atmospheric border politics, manifested in the form of this seemingly endless border wall draped with razor wire, Ls 1-4, and  the symbolically ominous, croaking ravens in L5 foreshadow evil, harm, or disaster.


Added: The following is a response tanka (not atmospheric one) to the "border wall"tanka:

the howling
of winter wind
through barbed wire ...
an old man stares
in piercing silence

Sunday, February 2, 2025

A Room of My Own: Wolf Pack Haiku

spots of blood ...
in snowlight one wolf moves
the whole pack


Added: On the Brink of Trumperica, X

a V of geese
across the sky-blue sky ...
chants of zero migrants


Added: reading between the lives and writing between the lines, LXXXIX

first Sunday dinner
after the lunar new year
this bitter taste
of the leftovers of leftovers
for myself and my dog


Added: reading between the lives and writing between the lines, XC

in black-and-white
a family with smiling faces ...
my bi-racial friend sighs,
the binary more sellable
than the muddy middle


Added:

heart and initials
carved in the garden bench ...
nursing home silhouette


Added:

things unspoken
after the midnight train
a misty moon


FYI: This could be read as a prequel of my haiku below:

hazy day moon 
alone, awake with the weight
of memory



Added: On the Brink of Trumperica, XI

"51st State" Response
inspired by Global News, Feb. 3: "Trump tariffs on Canada ‘paused’ for 30 days after border commitments"

trapped in the nightmare
of four more years of this man-child ...
we wake each morning
as if we're living
the Groundhog Day loop

this man-child
behind the Resolute desk
feels safe for now ...
24/7 Watch on the border 
armed with googly-eyed hockey sticks


FYI: PopMatter, Feb. 9, 2017Donald Trump: The Spoiled Little Man-Child They Made King

Did Shakespeare predict Donald Trump? No. He just wrote a play about a thin-skinned, petty, self-aggrandising narcissist [Richard II] whose poor leadership drove an empire to ruin.

And "Groundhog Day" Loop: "a plot in which the character is caught in a time loop, doomed to repeat a period of time (often exactly one day) over and over..."


Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXXV

Same Old Lunar New Year

New Year's reverie ...
I unzip my yellow skin
for a fair one

9-to-5 shift done
when alone in the cubicle
I'm just me

snow-covered street
looking back which footprints
are mine?

dinner alone
this taste of leftovers
left over again

Saturday, February 1, 2025

One Man's Maple Moon: Cloudy Blue Tanka by Carole MacRury

English Original

this beach glass
scoured a cloudy blue
so like your eyes
fading and emptying
to a relentless tide


Carole MacRury 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

這片海灘玻璃
沖刷後呈現雲霧般的藍色
就像你的眼睛
漸漸退色消失
在波濤洶湧的海浪中

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

这片海滩玻璃
冲刷后呈现云雾般的蓝色
就像你的眼睛
渐渐退色消失
在波涛汹涌的海浪中


Bio Sketch

Carole MacRury resides in Point Roberts, Washington, a unique peninsula and border town that inspires her work.  She is the author of In the Company of Crows: Haiku and Tanka Between the Tides (Black Cat Press, 2008, 2nd Printing, 2018) and The Tang of Nasturtiums, an award-winning e-chapbook (Snapshot Press 2012).  

Friday, January 31, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Snowshoe Hare Haiku by Chuck Brickley

English Original

a snowshoe hare
hops through its breath
morning star
Chuck Brickley


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一隻雪鞋兔
跳躍穿過鼻息所形成的雲霧
一顆晨星

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一只雪鞋兔
跳跃穿过鼻息所形成的云雾
一颗晨星


Bio Sketch

A native San Franciscan, Chuck Brickley lived in rural British Columbia for 35 years. His book of haiku, earthshine, won the THF Touchstone Award for Distinguished Books 2017; the HSA Merit Book Award 2017, Honorable Mention; and the inaugural Marianne Bluger Book Award 2020, Honourable Mention. His haibun,“Is Where The Car Is," was nominated for a Pushcart Prize 2018, and another haibun, "A Banishing," received a Sonders Best Small Fiction Award nomination, 2019

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Poetic Musings: (M)otherland Tanka by Chen-ou Liu

years in exile ...
moonlight rippling
the Pacific,
this narrow path
to the (M)otherland

First Place, Tanka, 2024 San Francisco International Competition

Chen-ou Liu

Commentary: This tanka has every quality of tanka that I love. It is lyrical, has mystery, and is especially creative in its use of language. It stands out, of course, for the parenthetical (M).This unusual element draws attention to multiple meanings, and is subtle and powerful. What can be closer than the mother, and yet estrangement, by geography, emotion, or rules, is heartbreaking. And the long narrow way back, in the night, traveling by moonlight, is very moving and speaks to all the separations and current difficulties our hearts are dealing with in our current affairs... excerpted from the judge's comments


FYI: This tanka could be read as a sequel to the following tanka and tanka sequence:

alone again
on the Pacific shore ...
winter moonlight
forming a narrow path
to the land I left behind



In Taipei, I still long for Taipei

ten years past
and alone in the moonlight
I have changed
and my hometown has changed
but we haven't changed together

I try to change
this idea of my hometown
people pass me by
with their eyes speaking in a code
that is foreign to me

the vendor asks,
are you from mainland China?
the look in his eyes
speaks the language
of a border guard

this journey
back to my hometown
ends 
with another one
on the road of no return


And I also won two honorable mentions of the tanka category:

a flock of geese
through the shelter window
a deaf veteran
touches again and again
the sound of home


Thanksgiving moon
sparks on the rippling water
of Lake Ontario ...
from his cupped, calloused hands
a migrant's taste of home

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Butterfly Dream: New Year's Day Haiku by Masaoka Shiki

English Original

New Year's Day
dead chrysanthemums still
at the garden's edge

Haiku: Ancient and Modern, 2002

Masaoka Shiki


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

元旦
枯死的菊花依然
在花園的邊緣

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

元旦
枯死的菊花依然
在花园的边缘

 
Bio Sketch

Masaoka Shiki (October 14, 1867 -- September 19, 1902) was a Japanese poet and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku, and he also published articles on the reform of tanka. Some scholars and poets consider Shiki to be one of the four great haiku masters, the others being Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa.

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

One Man's Maple Moon: New Year's Eve Tanka by Lavana Kray

English Original

only few left
to hug on New Year's Eve --
two reflections
in the cracked window,
Mt. Fuji and the old man

Excellence, the Nineth Mt. Fuji Tanka Contest,  2024

Lavana Kray


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

只有少數人留下
在除夕夜相互擁抱 --
兩個映影
在破裂的窗戶裡, 
富士山和一位老人

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

只有少数人留下
在除夕夜相互拥抱 --
两个映影
在破裂的窗户里,
富士山和一位老人

 
Bio Sketch

Lavana Kray lives in Romania. Her work has appeared in many print and online publications, as well as in haiga exhibitions organized by the World Haiku Association in Japan and Italy. In 2015 this Association awarded her the title of Master Haiga Artist. Her photo-haiku have been featured in NHK Haiku Masters on Japanese TV . The Laval Literary Society from Canada  awarded her the André-Jacob-Entrevous Prize 2023, for a literary text (haiku) combined with an artistic visual. She currently serves as Haiga Editor at Cattails Journal (UHTS). See more of her work at https://photohaikuforyou.blogspot.com.

Monday, January 27, 2025

A Room of My Own: Years-Old Game Tanka

night walk
from drizzle to sleet to snow --
this years-old game
of would have, could have, should have
with my drunken shadow


Added:

talk of divorce
on the long way home
for an hour
her silence speaks louder
than the sound of a blizzard


Added:

Glimpses of Light

burnt houses
the fruit of a charred citrus tree 
clings to its branches 

smoldering ruins
an etched mural stands alone
at the temple 


FYI: This is a sequel to the following haiku:

No More Fairy Tales, XLIII

a stairway
what remains of a burned house ...
Pacific Coast sunset


Added: On the Brink of Trumperica, IX

the White House
pronounces, only two sexes...
trans youth trapped
between black-and-white Kansas
and rainbow-colored Oz

FYI: In 2021, President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility. And the first International Transgender Day of Visibility was held on March 31, 2009.

Sunday, January 26, 2025

One Man's Maple Moon: Second Chance Tanka by Lorraine Pester

English Original

curtains of darkness
opened by the light of dawn
the horizon sheds
its colors as I make the most
of my second chance

Lorraine Pester


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

黎明的曙光
拉開了黑暗的帷幕
地平線散發出
它的色彩當我充分利用
第二次的機會

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

黎明的曙光
拉开了黑暗的帷幕
地平线散发出
它的色彩当我充分利用
第二次的机会


Bio Sketch

Being curious and staying open to possibility is Lorraine Pester’s way of keeping her haikai fresh. She shies from no topic that presents itself. Her deliberate interactions with birds while dog walking is a frequent theme. She lives with her husband and  Abbey schnauzer in south Texas. 

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Poetic Musings: Amaretto Tanka by Claudia Coutu Radmore

we don’t need the Amaretto
your mouth
hint of smoke
yet sweet as the water
of mountain rivers

Your Hands Discover Me, 2010
                                     
Claudia Coutu Radmore

Commentary: CCR has succinctly and effectively described the taste of Amaretto in terms that would leave no reader unsure, even if they had never imbibed of it, of its unique taste.

-- excerpted from "To the Lighthouse: Sensing Tanka: Perceiving Life Beyond the Ordinary"  by David Terelinck


Editor's Note: "Amaretto is a sweet Italian liqueur (Ls 4&5) with an almond flavor. It's often used in cocktails. Amaretto cocktails with a hint of smoke (L 3) can be made with smoked wood chips, mezcal, or a smoked cinnamon stick. The smoky flavor complements the almond nuttiness of amaretto." 

Friday, January 24, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Polar Vortex Haiku by Rich Schilling

English Original

polar vortex
making it through another
round of layoffs

Human/Kind Journal, 1:5, May 2019

Rich Schilling


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

極地渦旋
挺過另一輪
的裁員

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

极地涡旋
挺过另一轮
的裁员


Bio Sketch

Rich Schilling is a husband, dad, and award-winning poet. He has been published in Human/Kind JournalNOON,  antantantantantIs/letThe Heron's NestSonic Boom and numerous other journals.

Thursday, January 23, 2025

One Man's Maple Moon: Shadow Tanka by Naomi Beth Wakan

English Original

my total life
a shadow flickering
across the moon
one moment here
the next I float away


Naomi Beth Wakan


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我的一生
就像一個影子閃爍
橫穿過月亮
一會兒在這裡
另一刻我就飄走了

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我的一生
就像一个影子闪烁
横穿过月亮
一会儿在这里
另一刻我就飘走了


Bio Sketch

Naomi Beth Wakan is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Nanaimo (2014–16) and the Federation of British Columbia Writer’s Inaugural Honorary Ambassador. She has published over fifty books. Her most recent book of essays, On the Arts, came out in 2020 (Shanti Arts). Her trilogy, The Way of Tanka, The Way of Haiku, and Poetry That Heals was published by Shanti Arts in 2019. Wakan is a member of The League of Canadian Poets, Haiku Canada, and Tanka Canada. She lives on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada, with her husband, the sculptor Elias Wakan.